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CNN 10
Sudan`s Military Coup; Former President Bashir Under House Arrest; Indians To Start Voting In The First Phase Of The Country`s General Election
Aired April 12, 2019 - 04:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CARL AZUZ, CNN 10: There`s a new movie being produced about Friday`s, and it`s already been rated awesome. I`m Carl Azuz, happily presenting
Friday`s edition of CNN 10. We`re taking you Northeastern Africa first, where there`s been a military coup in the nation of Sudan. Its former
president, Omar al-Bashir, had been in power for three decades.
But on Thursday, the nation`s minister of defense announced that Bashir`s government had been dissolved and that the military would take charge of
Sudan for two years until a transition of power is complete. The country`s constitution has been suspended. Its lawmaking body has been stripped of
power.
In an effort to maintain peace in Sudan, a curfew`s been put in place and a state of emergency has been declared for three months. Reporters in Sudan
say former President Bashir is alive and under house arrest, and dozens of other government officials have also been arrested. Protests in the
African country have been going on for months.
They began as a demonstration against the rising costs of living in Sudan, but protesters then called for Bashir`s removal from office. There were
massive rallies and sit-ins and military installations, and with armed groups getting involved in recent days, violence flared up. A Sudanese
medical group says 22 people, including five soldiers, had been killed in protests over the past week.
Reports from social media and other witnesses indicated that celebrations were happening as the news spread of Bashir`s removal. But one group is
calling for Sudanese civilians to keep up the demonstrations until power is given to a civilian government.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROBYN CURNOW, CNN: Omar al-Bashir seized power in Sudan through a military coup in 1989. He went on to dissolve the government, all political parties
and trade unions. His harsh rule over his people eventually amounted to the International Criminal Court issuing an arrest warrant for the Sudanese
leader.
Bashir is wanted for crimes against humanity, war crimes and genocide for atrocities allegedly committed in Sudan`s Western Darfur region. Bashir is
accused of eliciting a brutal Arab militia called the Janjaweed to quell unrest (ph) against his rule in the region. He denied the ICC`s
allegations and disputed reports that tens of thousands of people were killed or displaced by the fighting.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The first thing is that we don`t agree with these numbers, neither the number of deaths, or the number of those displaced.
We estimate that the number of deaths on all sides, from the rebels and the government, to not exceed 5,000 deaths. The displaced, of course, all
those numbers are exaggerated. The actual numbers are a lot less than those given.
CURNOW: The arrest warrant issued in 2009 led to an international travel ban. Despite this, countries such as Egypt, South Africa and Saudi Arabia
still allowed him to make diplomatic visits. In the bloody decades-long civil war, waged between the country`s north and south, a peace agreement
was signed that led to South Sudan`s succession in 2011.
The two countries continue to fight, though, in cross-border skirmishes for control of the country`s disputed and lucrative oil reserves. Despite
international condemnation and the ICC arrest warrant, Bashir continued to win elections in his country in 2010 and 2015. However, many political
parties boycotted those polls.
But any signs of internal dissent, such as these anti-government protests that started in December 2018, have been ruthlessly put down by his
security forces until now. Omar al-Bashir was often captured on camera wearing his military uniform in public appearances, his time in power
constantly characterized by war. Robyn Curnow, CNN.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
AZUZ: Ten Second Trivia. Which of these nations borders the Bay of Bengal: India, Pakistan, Thailand or Vietnam? Bengal used to be a
provenance of India, and the Bay of Bengal is on the country`s east coast.
The South Asian country of India has begun the process of holding a national election, but its` not something that can be done in a day. Even
though India`s about a third the size of the United States, its population is almost four times bigger. And the results of that election that started
on Thursday aren`t expected until late May.
To keep elections fair and safe, polling is done in seven phases around different regions of India, so not every part of the country votes at once.
And though the political party of the nation`s current leader won a landslide victory in 2014, incumbent Prime Minister Narendra Modi may be
facing a closer contest this time around. The challenges faced by farmers, unemployment among young workers, tensions with neighboring Pakistan, all
of these are issues in this election.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NIKHIL KUMAR, CNN: And so, it begins. Indians will start voting in the first phase of the country`s general election, a closely fought contest in
which Prime Minister Narendra Modi is seeking reelection. Modi`s party - agenda party (ph) are being challenged in different parts of the country by
a number of other parties, including the principal opposition congress led by Rahul Gandhi.
The polls are spread out over several weeks. There are seven phases in all, and the results won`t be out until the 23rd of May. The reason?
Because of the colossal size of this Democratic exercise, the largest in the world. Across India, there are 900 million people eligible to vote,
and that`s not the only staggering number.
There`re around 1 million polling stations and some 10 million officials are involved in making sure the process is completed successfully. The
vast human resources involved, as well as the logistics of moving everyone around this continent-sized country, is why voting is so spread out.
On Thursday, voters in sections of the north, the east, and the south will get a chance to cast their ballots. Among the areas going to the polls in
the first place are sections of northern (inaudible), easily the most consequential of all Indian states, with a population of around 200 million
people. Their votes could be key to deciding whether Mr. Modi gets a second term or if things are about to change in what is the world`s-largest
Democracy.
Nikhil Kumar, CNN, New Delhi.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
AZUZ: If you live in Bear Country and you have a car, it`s probably a good idea to keep your doors locked. The woman who owns this vehicle in
Breckenridge, Colorado would tell you that. It was parked but apparently not locked up, and a bear, probably a small one, recently broke into the
car one night and then proceeded to utterly destroy it. Maybe he thought it was home because it was a Subaru Forester.
The intruder did find something worthwhile in the backseat, a single package of gummy bears, which he also destroyed. It`s terrible, it`s
unbearable, but at the video`s shareable. An unlocked door near the forest floor makes for a cautionary parable. He had cause for it. He had claws
for it. He smelled a sweet snack and had to pause for it. It shows how a bear is animal, but does eating gummies make him a cannibal?
Food for thought on CNN. And I`m Carl Azuz, hoping your weekend is bear- ific.
END
